Tennis: Henman vision is blurred

FOR A DELICIOUS moment at the Paris Open yesterday, Tim Henman held a match point against Yevgeny Kafelnikov, which, if converted, would have meant that only Greg Rusedski could have overtaken him on the road to Hanover.

Henman served at 197kph down the middle, but Kafelnikov took a short step to his right and drove a winning forehand return down the line. "I perhaps hit it too well," Henman said. "I got lucky on the match point," said Kafelnikov.

The Russian went on to win an extraordinary contest, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6. Rusedski defeated Australia's Jason Stoltenberg, 7-6, 6-4. And the remaining two places in the eight-man field for the ATP Tour Championship in Germany on 24 November remain in the balance.

Henman is in eighth position following Richard Krajicek's withdrawal from the contest to have a knee operation, one place behind Karol Kucera, of Slovakia. They are the favourites, with Kafelnikov, Rusedski and the Czech Petr Korda the outsiders.

Kucera, in common with Henman, failed to reach the quarter-finals after leading 5-1 in the third set (in Kucera's case against Australia's Mark Philippoussis). But Henman's match against Kafelnikov was a classic of topsy-turvy tennis.

The chief reason why the match lasted as long as two hours and 13 minutes was that Kafelnikov moved like Nureyev for a set and a half, and like Yeltsin in the first six games of the final set. "I should have lost the match 6-3, 6-2," Henman acknowledged, "but to get so close and then have it taken away is very disappointing."

Henman was able to extend the contest by saving a break point at 4-3 in the second set, when the width of the net cord denied Kafelnikov's angled half-volley. Henman then converted his first break point for the match when his backhand approach clipped the net cord and dropped over. A second net cord helped Henman force the second set tie-break, which he won, 7-5, and a third touch of the tape enabled him to break for 2- 1 in in the final set.

Kafelnikov said the net cords had strained his friendship with Henman. "He was hitting the net consistently and never even apologised," Kafelnikov said. "I got frustrated and said something bad to him in the change-over. I don't know how we're going to respond to each other when we see each other next time."

The Russian eased his frustration during the match by winning 11 points in a row from 2-5 and deuce to blur Henman's vision of Hanover. "The damage was done in the 5-2 game, when I played a couple of loose points early on," Henman said. "His motivation was right back there. And when I had to serve again at 5-4, it was a totally different feeling. There was a lot more pressure on me. I hit three aces and got the match point. I hit a good serve, he hits it clean when he returned. And then it's anyone's match."

Kafelnikov played the decisive shots to win the tie-break, 7-2, and then walked to meet his opponent at the net. "We looked at each other, but there were no words," Kafelnikov said. "We just shook hands. I'm sure we're going to talk to each other again and stay friendly after everything is over."

Henman's thoughts turned to next week's tournament in Stockholm, where he hopes to gain the points that will take him to Hanover. "It's still in my hands," he said.

Rusedski stayed in touch by wearing Stoltenberg down with his serve. Unable to convert any of five break points - three of them set points - in the opening set, Rusedski edged the tie-break, 8-6. He broke the Australian in the opening game of the second set, in which he conceded only five points on serve.

"Things are looking up," said Rusedski, who qualified for Hanover last year. "With Krajicek pulling out, I think myself and Kafelnikov have a little bit of an outside shot. But I'm not really going to think about it. I know I have to do extremely well and win a few more matches to even contemplate it."

Rusedski plays Sweden's Magnus Gustafsson in the quarter-finals today, with the winner going into tomorrow's semi-finals against Kafelnikov or Marcelo Rios, of Chile.

Results, Digest, page 31